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Friday, January 27, 2017

Can I leave my siblings out of my will and name overseas friends instead?

There are two sides to every gift under a will. One side is the act of giving the gift. The other side is the act of receiving it. This reader wrote to me to talk about leaving gifts to friends in Italy in her will, which posed a couple of interesting issues. Here are her note and my response:

 "I am a Canadian living abroad for work purposes and my loved ones to whom I wish to leave my entire estate are friends in Italy. I am single but I have living siblings but have not included them in any inheritance. Can I legally do this? Will my beloved friends be able to inherit my estate or will there be significant problems?"

Can you legally leave out your siblings? Yes, absolutely. You have no legal obligation to them whatsoever unless they are financially dependent on you for some reason. It doesn't matter who you choose instead of your siblings because your siblings simply have no right to your estate. You are free to choose your friends as beneficiaries.

This is the law in Canada. I have no idea what the law might be in Italy!

You said you are a Canadian living abroad, so I assume this means you have a permanent residence somewhere in Canada. You might want to consider making two wills - one here in Canada and one in Italy - depending on where your assets are located. If your assets are all in Canada, there is no need for a second will, but if you own a home or other significant assets in Italy you  might want to make a will there as well.

This is because countries do not simply accept wills made outside of their borders. Laws, courts, language, customs, and processes are all different. You might be able to have a will re-sealed (more or less the equivalent of submitting it for probate) in another country, but there is no guarantee of that.

If you do make wills in both places, make sure the lawyers drafting them know about the other will so that they can be written in such a way that they do not revoke each other.

Your question is interesting because it asks me whether your friends will be able to inherit your estate. As I mentioned above, I am not familiar with inheritance law in Italy. They may or may not have limits (or more likely taxes) on bequests from other countries. In other words, I know you can leave it to them legally but I'm not in a position to say whether they can receive it without problems.




6 comments:

  1. Is there any legal requirement (in Canada), then, that siblings and other relatives who are NOT beneficiaries be informed of the death?

    There is no legal requirement to post an obituary as I found out after Dad died. But in a case like the one posted above, are any relatives NOT included in the will legally entitled to be informed that the person died?

    Some people want to make a lot of noise when they leave, others want to go quietly.

    :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No there is no obligation on anyone to inform others of a death.

      Lynne

      Delete
  2. Thank you for clarifying.

    There is nothing saying so specifically online that I could find. Pages and pages (Google) of how to gently tell others of a death, how to kindly inform family of the loss, but nothing saying whether or not it is a requirement and/or under what circumstances.

    The OP wants to leave out her siblings. For people who have no children, they often wonder if they are required by law to include the nearest relatives.
    And for that matter, if those 'nearest relatives' have any right to be informed at all or not.

    Thanks again! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. The new WESA law in BC went into effect in 2014. There are rules about succession and who is entitled and I have concerns. As your writer asked if she could leave her estate to friends rather than relatives. My husband and I have no children, and my husband has no siblings. If I am the one who is last to die, the law I think states that I have no choice and my two siblings will inherit my estate if I die after my husband.
    Frankly my two siblings are inheriting a substantial sum when our mother passes away. Furthermore, I don't want to leave them my estate. I dont like how theyhave treated me over the past years, including my newphews and nieces, and I would like to state who receives my hard earned estate. I would like to donate to my community. Can I do that or will I have no choice but to leave my siblings my estate?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No, you do not have to leave them your estate. The WESA will state who receives your estate if you do not leave a will. The law in BC is different than most other provinces in the rights it allows to, in particular, children of the deceased. Nothing in it, to my knowledge, increases the rights of siblings. If you create a strong will that makes your wishes clear and you name an executor who can properly carry out the job, there should be no reason for your siblings to be involved at all.

      Lynne

      Delete

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